FT Spitfire Build

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So the Spit is almost ready for the maiden flight test. It came in at 515g w/o battery, I am going to use my 2200mah and that is another 185G but balances out well. I still need to dial in my throws and hope for a decent day this upcoming weekend.

Got the tiny trainer 4ch ready and prettied up for its re-maiden now that the expos are set the right direction.

I also have my built up Edge 540.1 ready for gear but I'll wait till I get better with my regular 540.

Now I was able to take out my Edge 540 for a few flights tonight with my 9yr old and he got some video with my IPad but I have no idea how to upload it. I'm getting him ready for getting the Spits maiden!

And it worked because I just got back from a 15min flight on the 3S 2200mah and had 10.1v left. This now weighs right at 755g ready to fly. I'm very happy with these results. This last flight was with a decent wind so it was not as smooth as I told myself I was going to shoot for but came back in one piece and ready to fly again.

Member

Okay, here is my spit, made from slightly different foam, as I can't buy $TF foam in Poland. It's not covered with paper, one side is smooth, other is covered with squares with cutting marks. I am using classic 9g tower pro servos, 2,2Ah 11,1v turnigy accu and GT22105/10 motor (my bro decided to buy it for me and he accidentaly bought 10 instead of 9 version, but it's more than enough) and 10x5 prop. I am very happy with the weight, it's about 550g with everything packed in. It's very stable and flies great. I am thinking about painting it and making a canopy ( I made one, but I'm not happy with it). 1:33 scale paper mustang for comparision

Posted a thousand or more times

Had to say good by to my 3rd spitfire last night as I got into the sun and couldn't see it so I set it for a wide circle like I have done in the past but it never came out of the sun. I have all the ranchers in the area keeping an eye out for it but not holding out much hope.
The electronics for this one is what hurts even though most of them have survived at least 4 other planes.
As soon as funds allow I am building another spitfire as they just fly so well.

Member

Don't give up too soon. It's good to have some sunglasses with good reflective surface, it helps a lot, you can even look straight on a sun with these on, and maybe a buzzer or something like that mounted to free channel.

Member

I really fancy making one of these, but i'd like more aggressive flying characteristics rather than the almost glider type qualities of the standard build! I'm not after nerdic type speed just something a bit more slippery but without bad tip stalling.

Has anyone tried building the current design with a reduced under chamber or thinner wing section?

Well-known member

Nickf, I was looking for the same characteristics as you and I did not have the patience for the speed wing bevels. So I used nerdnic's plans but built the wing as a regular fold over. This gave me the thinner and tapered wing profile with less undercamber. I also only used a singl layer of foam for the rudder and elevator by adjusting the cutouts. Flys great and feels more slippery than the regular FT. Also much easier to balance and place battery with nerdnic's hatch design.

Member

Member

A guy stopped by our club field this weekend with a fancy DSLR camera fitted with a lens the size of a wine bottle.

He took many spectacular pictures of our models.

Here are a couple of my three year old photo recon Spitfire, PA-944. It's looking a little worse for the wear, but still flies like an absolute dream. Makes all the old guys in the club jealous. This year it will be attending its third Flite Fest!

Old and Bold RC PILOT

A while ago now I built a couple of the FT Spitfires using different techniques and covered one in plastic covering. The covering covered the wing tip undercamber and reduced the drag considerably. A little extra sp0eed was gained but the whole design was considerably lighter than the original and so it was not as fast in a vertical dive as the original versions. Maneuverability was of course far superior.

If interested in the covering see the post about the Balsa Foamboard Spitfire: